Badge
by TB's LMC
Summary: A little girl's questions lead Steve to understand that yeah, 5-0 is having an impact. Rated M for language. Oneshot. Set roughly a year after Season 1 finale.


"Steve?"

"Yeah, Grace?"

Grace's eyes were glued to something around the area of Steve's belt loops. When he followed her line of sight, he knew what it was.

"How come yours and Danno's new badges look different from the one Danno had when he first came here?"

Steve looked down at her. For a fraction of a second, he hoped Danny was somewhere nearby like he usually was, and would quickly step in and answer the question without giving Steve any sort of chance to make an ass out of himself by trying to not-quite-lie-but-leave-out-the-age-inappropriate-facts-of-it to a nine-year old girl.

He crouched right there in his driveway, her eyes following his all the way. In one smooth move he unclipped the badge from his belt and handed it to her. She took it in her two small hands, looked it over almost reverently, and then ran her fingers across the words.

_STATE of HAWAII_

He would start there.

"Well, one of the big things that separates what your dad and I do now," he began, "from what he did before, is the fact that we actually cover the whole state of Hawaii rather than just the city of Honolulu." Yeah, he had this. "When your Danno worked for HPD, he covered only Honolulu's jurisdiction. Does that make sense?"

She nodded, brow knitted in a way that was eerily familiar. Steve found himself smiling as her fingers moved along the carved ridges of the badge design onto the next words.

_INVESTIGATOR_

"We're what's known as investigators, rather than police officers. It's sort of the same thing as your dad being a detective with HPD," he explained, wrapping his mind around what he wanted to say and then figuring out how to put it all in Gracie words.

"So how come he's still called Detective Williams instead of Investigator Williams?" Grace asked smartly.

Steve half-grinned. "Because I stole him from HPD and he was a detective there."

"You stole _Danno_?" she asked, wide eyes turning back to his. "Steve, that's a crime!"

He laughed out loud, nodding as he placed his hand lightly on her shoulder. "Well, I was real lucky, Grace, because in my case, the Governor of Hawaii gave me permission to take your Danno away from HPD to come work with me."

"Well, then," she said, cocking her head and putting her hand on her hip, "you didn't really steal him after all."

"No," Steve said, hands now folded, arms steadying themselves on his thighs. "I guess you're right. I sort of just borrowed him, because that was the only way his chief and the governor would let him become my partner."

"So," Grace said, looking back down at the badge in her hand, "if you only borrowed my Danno, does that mean you have to give him back someday?"

The question sobered Steve considerably. "I hope not, Grace," he said, suddenly glad Danny _wasn't_ right there with them, because he knew the blatant honesty of that statement was etched into his face.

"I hope not, too," Grace said, nodding a couple times. Her index and middle fingers moved down over the seal of the State of Hawaii, which Grace had spent last weekend explaining to the partners after having studied it all week in school. On down, then, to the wide and slightly curved letters that followed.

_FIVE-O_

"Are you," she asked, "and Chin and Kono and Danno called Five-O because Hawaii is the fiftieth state?"

"Well, now," Steve said with a smile, "I think that's as good a reason as any, don't you?" He watched as her fingers moved lower to the last line of text.

_UNIT_

She looked up at Steve again as a hundred words blew through his mind on that one.

"Unit," he said, tapping the word with his index finger. "Team. Your dad, me, Chin Ho and Kono, we're a team. A unit."

She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Does that mean you're all like one thing together? Kind of like," she faltered for a moment, brow knitted in deep thought. "Kind of like we have one body but it's made up of individual molecules?"

Steve's eyebrows shot up. Shit, how old was this kid again? But then he thought about her words and his eyebrows settled back down as he rose to his full height. "Yeah, Grace, I think that's a good way to look at it."

He moved the foot that separated them from the hood of Danny's car and leaned back against it. He was surprised when Grace came to stand right in front of him and very shyly put her arms up. She wanted him to pick her up? Really?

Okay, sure he could do that. He placed his hands on either side of her ribcage and lifted her easily, arm settling beneath her as her legs wrapped around him. She studied the badge very carefully for a few more seconds, then laid it against his chest, right over his heart. Her brown eyes met his and he actually felt like twitching under the scrutiny, which was not a comfortable feeling for a SEAL.

"So since you're all a unit," she said quietly, "that means you'll do anything you can to keep the team together, right?"

"Yes," he nodded once, and again knew his face was gaping honesty at her.

"And you'll keep my Danno safe here in Hawaii so I never have to miss him so much again, right?"

Steve felt his heart lurch and then lodge itself in his throat. Danny had nearly died in yesterday's drug bust, saved only by Kono's sharp-shooting skills. Even nearly two years into their partnership it was tough to come back from the sudden breath-stealing panic that came whenever it looked like Danny might have gone down out there in the battles they had on the streets nearly every day.

It took a few swallows for him to have enough confidence in his voice to reply. "I'm going to do everything I can to keep your Danno safe, and to keep him here in Hawaii." Finally he managed to swallow his heart back down to where it belonged and quirked his face into a smile. "Even if it means having to watch him wear a tie every day."

"Hey!" a familiar voice squawked from behind them and Steve, God help him, actually flinched. "I heard that!"

Grace laughed, shimmying down Steve's torso and legs and running to give her father a happy hug. He murmured something to her while Steve folded his arms across his chest and watched as she ran into his house. Kono, undoubtedly, was ready for their surfing lesson out on the beach, if Grace's squeals of joy were to be interpreted correctly.

Danny walked up and mirrored Steve's posture against the hood of the Camaro. After a moment of silence his hand came up and Steve looked down to find his badge being offered to him. "Thanks," Steve said, taking it and clipping it back into place on his belt.

He could feel Danny's eyes on him but kept his gaze on the house, though it was unfocused. "Gotta say," Danny finally said, pushing himself off the car and stretching his arms and back a bit, "you're doing a pretty good job so far, Commander."

Steve's surprised look made Danny grin as he walked backward toward the house a few paces. He knew from the look on Danny's face that he'd probably heard most, if not all, of his and Grace's conversation.

Lifting his dark blue tie between his forefinger and middle finger, Danny's grin widened. "All except for the tie, that is."

Steve blinked and then it hit him and he laughed out loud, moving to follow his partner into the house. He clapped Danny on the back, closing the front door behind them and heading shoulder-to-shoulder with his partner for the back of the house.

"Yeah," Steve said, still chuckling, "well, give me a few years on that one, huh?"

Something soft hit him up side the head as they stepped out onto the lanai, and the nanosecond of surprise that registered was replaced by the instinctive grabbing of whatever it was that had been thrown at him. He unfolded his hand to find Danny's tie, still with the knot, crumpled there. He looked up. Danny was already a few feet ahead of him on his way to the water's edge to watch Grace on her surfboard. If Steve had blinked, he would've missed the wink and mock salute Danny threw him, all the while laughing at the stunned look that Steve knew had now settled on his face.

Steve grinned. State of Hawaii Investigator, Five-O Unit. It was _finally_ making a difference after all.


End file.
